Home is Where The Heart Is
by SasuSakufan4ever
Summary: Sasuke's back and Sakura, after recovering from the initial shock, is more than happy. But what are Sasuke's true intentions? Is he back for good? Different title and summary but same story. R&R please.
1. The one where he comes back

**Hey! So, you all thought I was dead, didn't you? Well, I almost am. XD Yep, nice time for morbid jokes.**

**Thing is, I am completely stuck on "Deal With It!", even thought it's just a couple more chapters until the end. But I've been planning (Yes! Planning! I actually know where I'm going with this one. :D) this fanfic for about a month and, even though I thought that I should prepare some chapters first so that I can update weekly or something, I just couldn't wait. So you'll just have to bear with me. **

**A/N's:**

**The flashbacks within brackets will be flashbacks that are encompassed in the flashback mentioned previously;**

**example:**

_flashback_

_**(flashback)**_

_continuation of flashback_

**I'll be using F.R.I.E.N.D.S way of naming chapters, so expect awesomeness (and complete lack of originality). XD**

**On with it!**

* * *

The night was dead silent.

Only soft steps were heard through the pouring rain as a dark figure limply dragged his frail and battered up body through the forest.

In his early twenties, the man, clad in a teared up black robe, mingled with his surroundings. His gaze and mind focused solely on his path.

'_Not much longer'._

~….SSF4E….~

After a twelve hour shift at an over-packed hospital, a young woman, no older than twenty, dragged herself through the silent streets of Konoha. The day had been tiring, yes, but fulfilling none the less. Her shoulder length hair grazed her neck as a gust of wind passed by, sending a chill up her spine. Looking at the heavy clouds grazing the sky, the woman hugged herself and rubbed her naked arms, trying to gain warmth; but something told her that despite the coming storm, the uneasiness she was feeling had nothing to do with the weather.

~….SSF4E….~

The woman behind the desk, apparently not much older than twenty five, stared, dazed, at the amount of paperwork she surely had to postpone until the next day. After doing nothing else all day, she couldn't figure out how there was still so much to sign. Sighing, the woman dipped her brush in the ink bottle and began her curvy signature for the millionth time that day. As a lightning bolt seared across the skies of the peaceful town and thunder boomed seconds after it, the woman jumped on her seat and her brush ran across the paper. Growling in frustration, the woman crumpled the paper up and threw it into the already over-flowing garbage can. Her chair creaked as she stood up and, facing the window that covered one-fourth of her office, the woman crossed her arms. Thick drops of water were falling at a growing pace.

Squinting at the sky, the woman realized that tonight was no ordinary night.

'_Rain, thunder and lightning at this time of the year…?'_

~….SSF4E….~

The night had already fallen when an obnoxious twenty year old blonde left his usual spot. He had already walked a few meters when he realized that it was starting to rain on him.

His eyes darted to the skies, small-sized droplets of water wetting his face. He frowned.

"_What the hell?"_

Swearing loudly, he took off his bright orange jacket, covered his head, trying to prevent himself from getting any wetter, and made a dash towards his home. It was still a long way to run, but currently the rooftops were a dangerous place to run on: the rain was falling at an ever increasing pace and water was pouring from the roofs and splashing noisily on the ground, wetting nearby peasants who sought shelter from the rain.

Thunder roared up ahead. A storm was coming, most likely from the north. It was an odd time of the year for this kind of weather: normally Konoha was known for its warm summer, chilly autumn, cold winter and lukewarm spring. Nothing but regular weather. Of course, they had their share of remains of winter storms that drifted from Suna, but nothing aside from that. A thunderstorm, this size no less, in the middle of spring wasn't normal. And even though Naruto wasn't known for his brains, he could tell, as his feet splashed on the many ponds on the ground, that this storm was no ordinary one.

~….SSF4E….~

As the rain became heavier and heavier, Sakura changed her pace to a jog, trying as best as she could to avoid getting even wetter. It was on one of her stops to get shelter under some roof that she noticed the figure running on the opposite direction, coming her way.

When he passed her, he didn't stop, but yelled at her over the sound of the pouring rain.

"Konbawa, Sakura-chan! Check it out, it's raining like hell!"

Sakura chuckled and yelled back at him, putting her hands in form of a shell on each side of her mouth to increase the volume of her voice.

"It doesn't rain in Hell, Naruto!"

He glanced back over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow.

"Heh?"

She shook her head from side to side.

"Never mind."

He grinned and resumed his sprint towards his home, she presumed.

Sakura sighed, took a deep breath and left her shelter. Thick drops of water chilled her to the bone, the only thing on her mind was a warm shower followed by her comfortable bed.

However, all that was forgotten as she passed by the main gates and found a dark figure laying on the ground. Her medical senses kicked in as she rushed to help whoever the stranger was.

As she got closer, she noticed that it was a male, not much older than herself, she guessed, and he had been brutally beaten.

She knelt on the muddy ground near the man and searched frantically for a pulse, a heartbeat, a sign of breathing, anything that indicated that the man was alive.

She grabbed his pulse and felt a faint pump through his skin. She sighed, relieved, but didn't relax.

He was lying on his stomach but she didn't risk rolling him over until she was sure there was no injury to his spinal cord.

Applying chakra on her hands, she took a deep breath and concentrated. Passing her hands over his upper and lower members, she could tell that his left arm was broken; but she didn't heal it right away, in case there were more critical damage to his body and, therefore, more urgent to treat.

Part of his body had been badly burned and she thought that that would most likely be the wound that required more urgent treatment.

When she reached his back, she noticed several broken ribs, but there wasn't any laceration to any of his organs nor was his spinal cord damaged, so she grabbed his good arm and turned him around. Suddenly, she let his arm drop and raised a hand to her mouth to muffle the shocked scream she couldn't avoid.

~….SSF4E….~

"I can't believe we have to stand guard today of all days. It's pouring hard, dude."

"Shut up, Genma." - his partner for the night shift, Nagisa, barked at him. "And don't call me dude." Genma frowned.

"Well, excuse me, but I am a special class Jounin, ya know? I'm not supposed to spend my days sitting around keeping guard on a gate that no smart person would cross in this weather!"

Genma considered himself a smart and efficient shinobi. He was trained by the best to interrogate and spy. That was his specialty. So why was he, on a Friday night, chilling to the bone, keeping guard on a gate? Sure it was needed. Sure the village's safety rested on his hands, but that didn't mean he liked it.

Nagisa sighed.

"You know as well as I do that Tsunade-sama only appointed us to be here because all the other Jounin are away on missions."

When Tsunade had appointed them both to take the night shift by the village's gates, Nagisa knew that this would happen. Genma had always been a very active person, always wanting to be on the field. He was a strategist. Only Morino Ibiki surpassed his interrogation skills. So when you put him all night sitting behind a desk with no dangerous criminal on the other side of it, he gets grumpy.

Genma was a complex fellow, she mused. He was always complaining about the lack of work but he had a weak spot for his mid-afternoon naps.

Nagisa liked to think that Genma was bipolar. That would explain a lot, the kunoichi thought.

She herself was more of a tracker. When on a mission, she never failed in finding who or what she was supposed to find. She was smug enough to think that she was the best tracker of Konoha. Well, except maybe Hatake Kakashi, she thought, groaning inwardly.

Genma bit on his toothpick hard as he tightened his jaw.

"Well, she could've sent me, now, couldn't she?"

Nagisa was about to retort about his lower Jounin status when, on top of the sound of the pouring rain, a high pitch scream was heard, not that far from there.

~….SSF4E….~

A lightning bolt lit the skies for a split second, enough to catch his features and give Sakura the certainty that she was already felling. Clutching her chest, she willed her heart beat to return to normal as she looked down at his face. His head didn't seem to have been hit, as his hair was ebony black, with no trace of crimson blood. Though he did have a very nasty cut on his eyebrow and most likely a broken jaw. Sakura sighed.

He was just like she remembered, only his features were harder and his (now broken) jaw straighter. He seemed more built, too.

She shook her head, clearing her thoughts, she was first and foremost a medic nin, so she canalized chakra to her hands and began treating his burns, which were mostly located, she now realized, on his torso and legs. She was so concentrated on her work that she didn't hear hurried footsteps approaching.

~….SSF4E….~

"_Just a bit more." - he muttered, forcing his legs to carry his body and his feet to keep moving._

_He could see the front gates. Just a few more steps and then he could rest. _

_100 steps. _

_Slowly, limply, he made his way through the forest, his broken arm curved and pressed to his chest, his right hand resting on every other tree to keep his stand._

_70 steps._

_The gates drew nearer and nearer. Why had nobody noticed him yet?_

_50 steps._

_Tsk. Their security was lousy._

_30 steps._

_The pouring rain wasn't helping at all, he grimaced, after almost slipping on the wet grass under his feet._

_10 steps._

_He was almost past the gates. Here he was, Konoha. Now all he needed to do was get to the Hokage's Office and- He didn't get to finish his thought as he lost consciousness and fell, face first, on the ground._

_Flashback:_

_He felt weak. Weaker than he has ever been. He hated the feeling._

_What was he thinking? _

**_(Flashback:_**

**_After killing Orochimaru and running off, exhausted, the first thing he heard when he finally settled down in a small town near Taki border was that there were sightings of the Konoha traitor and Akatsuki member, Uchiha Itachi, right there on the village. That was all he needed to know. He didn't even sleep; high on soldier pills, Sasuke ran off to the location his brother was last seen at._**

**_The thing about Takigakure was that the ocean was connected to it by an enormous waterfall. That said, it was obvious that it was constructed on a high cliff, being connected to the other villages by four bridges, two of them connected to two of the most important villages in the Ninja World: Konoha and Iwa, so that is to say that Taki was a very busy place; merchants came and go selling their products and buying others. Though Taki wasn't a hidden village, it still was a prominent place._**

**_But that was the last thing on Sasuke's mind: clad in all black, he mingled with his surroundings as if he belonged to nature itself; a shadow in the midst of the night. He quickly reached the town's end and jumped to the first tree of the forest that separated the town he just left from the bridge that led to Taki. Sasuke felt his blood boil with both hatred and adrenaline, the tiredness and fatigue from the fight not four hours ago, long gone._**

**_He let a sadistic smirk cross his once stoic expression. _**

**_After so many years, it was time._**

**_~….SSF4E….~_**

**_What were the odds? He felt it clearly: Itachi's chakra signature, mere kilometers in front of him, coming his way. A twisted smirk etched upon his stony face: this will end now, he thought._**

**_When his feet touched the muddy earth in the clearing that opened up in his path, Itachi was already standing on the other end, his cloak flowing with the wind. He wore an amused smile on his face, which aggravated Sasuke to no end. _**

**"_I must say I'm impressed little brother." - Itachi told him with a note of false surprise in his voice. - "I never thought you would actually come looking for me."_**

**_So it was on purpose, Sasuke thought, they didn't meet by chance: Itachi knew he was coming for him._**

**_Not impressed, Sasuke clenched his fists by his sides._**

**"_Well, sorry to disappoint you." - he said, getting into a fighting stance. _**

**_Itachi closed his eyes and smirked._**

**"_Hn. Then I guess there is no other way, is there?"_**

**_Sasuke didn't answer: he was already hurling at Itachi.)_**

_~….SSF4E….~_

"What was that?"

Genma suddenly jolted up from his chair and ran in the direction of the noise.

"H-Hey!"

Nagisa sprinted after him.

Genma stopped abruptly on his tracks and hadn't Nagisa been a trained shinobi, she would've crashed into him.

"What the he-" - she began, only to shut her mouth close when she noticed why Genma had halted.

"Haruno-san? Who is that?"

The medic nin glanced briefly over her shoulder to see who was addressing her and then turned her head towards the male on the ground before answering.

"He's Uchiha Sasuke."

_~….SSF4E….~_

_He didn't think, he concluded._

_How foolish he had been. Orochimaru never intended on helping him avenge his clan, he only needed his body, his eyes. Sighing, he looked up at the sky. The heavy rain falling on him like a frozen blanket. He didn't care. He couldn't, even if he wanted to; he couldn't move. He laid on the mud, dirty, bruised, broken, bloody; barely conscious. Would the outcome of this battle been any different if he had never left Konoha? Would he have gotten stronger enough to kill his brother without having to sever his ties? He closed his eyes and shook his head (which he regretted right after, as a searing pain shot through it). This wasn't the time to think about the past. What was done could not be undone. _

_Funny how things work; it was precisely the past that led him to where he is now. _

_He wasn't able to kill Itachi._

* * *

**Yep, I made my own "Sasuke comes back" bit. I always told myself that I wouldn't because, obviously, it's the most cliche-ed topic in SasuSaku world. But I think my way hasn't been written yet. (Please don't kill me if it has.)**

**I had trouble placing the flashbacks. :S There seemed to be no good place to put them. **

**About the OC Nagisa: yes, she doesn't like Kakashi (or does she? ;)). (I love him though, so don't harass me, 'kay?) I got her name from Clannad, which I strongly recommend. (Not suitable for those with a weak heart, though. I've never cried so hard while watching anime. It really pulls at your heart strings.)**

**The information about the two different Jounin classes (which I didn't know until I read about it) were taken from my most awesome possession: "Naruto: The Official Fanbook". **

**Review now, please! :D **


	2. The one in the hospital

**Number two is here! I managed to make this one even bigger. Yay, me! :3**

**This is the beginning of some SasuSaku fluff, not very obvious but I want to make it as realistic as possible. **

**Enjoy! :D**

**A/N: On a very different subject: Anyone is a TVD fan? :P**

* * *

When he came to his senses, the first thing he noticed was the smell; the unmistakable scent of disinfectants.

Next, he noticed the sounds; beeping mechanical sounds and hushed distant voices.

When he finally opened his eyes, all he saw was white. A big blurry amount of white. His head hurt (but it wasn't a soaring pain, more like a numbness; a soreness), when he turned it to look at his left.

A blotch of pink mixed up with all the white. He blinked in hopes of clearing his eyesight. It didn't work.

"Ah, I see you're awake." - the _female_ pink blob told him.

"Hn."

The chair she was sitting on creaked as she stood up. He saw her getting closer, her arm outstretched towards him. He froze. When what he supposed was her hand went to touch his left eye, he instinctively grabbed her wrist.

She paused and sighed. He glared at her.

"You have got to let me check your eyes to see if everything is alright."

He slowly let go of her, but remained apprehensive.

"It's foggy."

"Pardon?"

"My sight. It's foggy."

"Oh. Strange."

He felt her sitting down on the bed, besides him. He stiffened and scootched a little to his right.

"Hmm... Can I take a look? Please."

Sasuke looked at her and tried to make eye contact as if to warn her not to do anything stupid, but he still couldn't make out her features.

The woman took his silence as an agreement and reached for his eyes again. He gripped the sheet that was lying on top of him and refrained from drawing back from her.

When the blob of pink (which was her hair, he supposed), was mere inches from his face, he felt her thumb lift his left eyelid and, suddenly, there was a click and light invaded his eye. The light went from left to right across is left and then his right eye. There was another click and the light was gone.

"Well, the fogginess is most likely due to the extensive use of your Sharingan."

He didn't ask how she knew he had the Sharingan. He was well known in Konoha (albeit not for the best reasons) and his face was probably all over the Bingo Book and wanted posters.

"Is it-"

"Permanent? No. I'm quite certain it is not."

He sighed inwardly, but then froze. Why should he trust this woman? He gave her a glare that told her as much. She didn't seem to get it, though.

"But I can accelerate the process. If you want."

There was something in her voice that wasn't totally unfamiliar to him: some kind of sweetness, kindness. He felt like he knew her, but couldn't grasp from where.

His glare intensified and this time she caught it.

She sighed and stood up.

"Look, I get it. After you left you swore that you would forget all about us, about Konoha. That you would pretend that you didn't know us. I get it. It was easier that way. But you can't come here after so many years, all broken up, expecting me to heal you if you don't trust me one bit."

She was yelling at him while pacing the room. He frowned, confused. Inwardly, of course.

Who the hell did this woman think she was? Talking about him as if she knew him. Unless...

"._..Sakura_?" - he asked, slowly, curious.

Why didn't he think of it before? Who else had pink hair in Konoha?

She stopped pacing the room.

"What is it?" - she spat at him.

He looked blankly at her.

She gasped and hurried to his side again.

"Wait, you didn't know it was me?"

He shook his head.

"Wow. Your sight must be really awful."

He glared at her. She giggled.

"Fine, fine. So, do you want me to fix your eyes or not?"

He paused. He still couldn't trust her, but now for very different reasons. It has been so much time since he left, too many things happened. He had tried to kill her. Who knows what she might try to do to him. Not that he was worried; even in his state, she wasn't a threat to him. But attacking her would severely endanger his plan, not to mention aggravate his sentence. That, if he wasn't sentenced to death. And he needed his eyesight to be 100% functional.

He slowly nodded.

She got closer and sat on the bed again.

"Okay, then. The only problem with your sight is focussing, so the treatment is easy and quick. Now, stand still please."

She touched both her index and middle finger to his temples. The familiar sound of chakra flowing reached his ears. The sensation was soothing, he supposed. Calming. He felt his eyelids drop.

~….SSF4E….~

_Flashback:_

_He didn't feel a thing when his back hit the muddy ground: his whole body was aching with burns, cuts, broken bones and teared up flesh for any more pain to be felt by his numb nerves. Not very far from where he lay he heard the splashing sound of someone walking._

_How long had the fight lasted? An hour? Two? It didn't seem that long, but with a weakened body right from the start, it could've been years._

_The sound of steps ceased._

"_Not even half an hour, Sasuke."_

_Itachi's words stung much more than all the burns on his body._

"_But you've gotten stronger. I'll give you that. And I heard that you managed to kill Orochimaru. Impressive. Though I believe it wasn't wise of you to come and find me as soon as you did."_

_He felt anger, frustration, aggravation, hatred and shame all at the same time. He tried to retort, but instead of words what left his mouth was blood._

"_You were doomed from the very start, little brother. Even in your full strength, I don't believe you could've killed me."_

_Sasuke let out a groan he couldn't contain. He never thought it would end like this. He always imagined that if he died during this battle, he would take his brother with him. He would fall proudly, his clan avenged. _

_He had been stupid. _

_He thought he still had enough strength after killing Orochimaru to come here and finish off his brother, but he was fooled by the sudden surge of adrenaline that shot though him when hearing his brother's name in that small village._

"_I won't kill you now."_

_Itachi's deep voice brought him back to the present, his words barely made sense over the roar of thunder and rain._

"_You're not strong enough to put up a fair fight. Get stronger, Sasuke. And then come and find me."_

_And just like that, he disappeared in a cloud of crows, flying away to the grey skies above._

~….SSF4E….~

The second time he came around, the first thing he noticed was that his head no longer hurt and he felt much more rested. The second was that, when he opened his eyes, he could clearly make out the different devices and furniture that adorned his hospital room. The third was that he was hungry.

Looking at his left, he half expected to see Sakura still by his side, sitting on the creaky old chair that hung empty by the wall beside the door. He guessed that, now being a nurse, she had other patients to tend to and couldn't afford babysitting him 24/7. Knowing that the old Sakura would gladly ignore any other human being if it meant she could stay by his side at all times, he realized how much everything had changed.

The sound of the door shutting pulled him from his thoughts. Sakura came in, carefully carrying a steel tray.

She didn't look much different, he supposed. Taller, older. Her pink hair was pulled in a messy bun behind her head but he guessed it was still kept short. Overall, she looked the same.

"I thought you would be hungry, so I brought you lunch." - she told him while depositing the tray on top of his knees, after he sat up. Pulling up the chair, she sat on it, grabbed the apple and the plastic knife from the tray and began peeling it.

Sasuke grabbed the spoon and swirled around the noodles in his soup.

Sakura stopped her peeling and looked up.

"I know it's hospital food but that's all we have around here." - she told him, apologetically.

He dipped his spoon in the broth and, tentatively, brought it up to his mouth.

Sakura made a face.

"That bad, hein?"

He swallowed.

"Hn."

He brought the spoon down and filled it up again.

Sakura smiled and got back to the peeling.

After he was finished with the soup, Sakura had already peeled and sliced the apple onto a plate and held it out to him.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

Sakura sighed.

"They were out of tomatoes."

He couldn't help but smirk and grabbed a piece from the plate.

She smiled, but not a minute later, she grew serious and began staring at the place where the sheets covered Sasuke's feet.

Following her gaze and looking back at her, he asked.

"What?"

Sakura sighed and opened her mouth to speak but only air came out. She closed her eyes, mumbled something to herself that he couldn't hear and tried again.

"Will you leave again? After you're healed?"

The question wasn't unexpected to him, not in the least. But it sure came earlier than he predicted. The answer was clear and easy, but he wasn't really eager to give it. His motives were way different than the ones she would think he had, and, even though caring about her wasn't on his list of priorities, he couldn't help but to do so.

He had already hurt her so badly in the past, he guessed to do it just one more time wouldn't make him feel any more guilty.

"No, I won't."

After he saw the smile that came upon her features, he couldn't help but think that, indeed, it made him feel guiltier.

He guessed not everything had changed.

~….SSF4E….~

The news that he had come back spread like wild fire, apparently, because almost everyone he was acquainted with, had come to see him. Which meant Naruto.

"Man, I can't believe that you came back on your own, teme!" - the sound of Naruto's voice filled the tiny room so completely, that Sasuke felt like it was crowded. He hated crowded places.

He closed his eyes, sighed and rubbed his temples.

"I'm regretting it already." - he murmured, annoyed.

Of course Naruto didn't hear him above his own voice as he kept on doing what he did best: waking up the dead.

"And I was so prepared to kick your sorry ass back here! Well, I guess it's better like this: at least you have more chances of not getting killed!" - he said with a huge grin on is lips.

Sasuke snorted so Naruto thought he was paying attention, but he was actually thinking about what Tsunade had told him not an hour ago.

Apparently, his trial was scheduled for the end of the week and, until then, he would have to stay in the hospital; healthy or not, so that he could be kept under surveillance. That's when he was told that there were two ANBU placed right outside his door at all times, which he didn't feel, at all, comfortable with.

Regarding his trial, he was most certain that he wouldn't be sentenced to death: he had told Tsunade everything about his fight with Orochimaru, surely they would take in consideration the fact that he eliminated one of Konoha's arc enemies.

That was enough for him; he could take any other punishment.

"Kakashi-sensei is away on a mission, but as soon as I get word that he's back, I'll bring him here."

Naruto kept ranting on random stuff, the trademark goofy grin never leaving is face. Sasuke had never seen him more annoying; and more happy.

Somewhere along the babbling about ramen and the new jutsus he had learned, Naruto brought up the subject of the Chuunin Exams.

"Yeah, it's gonna be held here next year. I'm tellin' ya, next year is the year! I'm not gonna stay a Genin any longer."

The fact that Naruto, after 7 years, was still a Genin amused him immensely. That, if he wasn't still one himself.

"What about Sakura?" - he heard himself ask.

Naruto grinned.

"Sakura-chan has been a Chuunin for four years, teme. There's been word that she's gonna be recommended to become Jounin soon."

Naruto sounded nothing but proud, even though his female team mate, obviously below him in skill, was above him in the village's ranking.

To prove Naruto right, Sakura walked in, in that precise moment. And she didn't look very happy.

She closed the door behind her, came over to them and crossed her arms.

"Naruto."

Said person flinched and nervously looked up at her from the chair he was sitting on.

"Hai, Sakura-chan?" - he asked, innocently.

Sasuke watched, amused. It was incredible how such a small person could make Naruto, the next self-proclaimed Hokage, vessel of the Kyuubi and the most (again, self-proclaimed) powerful ninja in Konoha, tremble like that.

Sakura sighed and uncrossed her arms.

"Calm down. I was just gonna say that it's past visiting time. You've got to come back tomorrow."

As he listened to Naruto and Sakura laughing in the background he noticed that, indeed, it was almost nighttime.

Suddenly, he felt a powerful slap on his back. Whipping around he saw Naruto grinning down at him, now from a standing position.

Sasuke glared at him, but, as always, it didn't work.

"See ya tomorrow, Sasuke! Make sure you don't die, will ya? It would be a pain in the ass, after all that work for bringing you back." - he said heading for the door.

Sasuke threw a pillow at his back.

"I came back by myself, you dimwit."

Naruto froze, while the pillow hit him, and then began walking again, waving is hands above his head.

"Yeah, yeah. Details, details."

Sasuke heard Sakura giggle in the corner and turned to look at her, crossing his arms.

"What?"

Sakura sighed and sat on the foot of his bed.

"Nothing, nothing. It's just... I'm really glad you're back, Sasuke." - she said, smiling.

Against his will, proposes, beliefs, objectives and plans, he felt himself smirking, and thinking that maybe, just maybe, he was glad too.

~….SSF4E….~

The two days that followed went by uneventfully. Kakashi dropped by on Sasuke's last day at the hospital. They didn't say much to each other, even though Naruto kept whining about how antisocial they were both being. In the end, Kakashi wished him luck for his trial and Naruto told him not to get killed.

On his last night, he left his room around 9, with all his belongings packed. When he closed the door, he didn't find the two ANBU he was expecting.

"Hey."

Sakura was wearing her normal clothes, now that she was off duty. He confirmed that, now that it was loose, her hair went just above her shoulders.

Noticing that he was looking around, Sakura answered his unasked question.

"I sent them off. I'll be the one to walk you home tonight. Since it's technically your first night back, I thought you would prefer not to be followed around." - she said as she took his bag from him and started walking.

He followed her at once.

"Oh, right. I don't know if anyone told you yet, but your parents house has been sealed since you left. No one is allowed to go in. I guess they wanted to find some sort of connection to Orochimaru, but now that we know he's no longer around, I'll ask for a liberation. It shouldn't take more than a few days. In the mean time, you can choose where you want to stay."

He wasn't really expecting for his privacy to be respected, but the idea that some stranger had gone though is parents stuff sent his blood boiling.

"Did they take anything?"

Sakura looked at him sympathetically.

"No, I don't think so. They barely had anything to go on, I mean, you had just met Orochimaru before... You know." - she swallowed. "You couldn't have anything that connected you to him."

Sasuke nodded but kept silent. Well, he guessed he would find out if something was missing as soon as he could enter his own house.

"I want to stay at your place."

Sakura stopped dead on her tracks.

"What?"

Sasuke put his hands in his pockets and turned to her.

"You said I could choose. I want to stay with you."

The double implication of his words went unnoticed by Sasuke. Nonetheless, Sakura smiled and resumed walking alongside him.

Sasuke looked sideways at her and sighed.

"Naruto's house smells and Kakashi's a pervert."

Sakura giggled softly.

"True, true."

* * *

**So that's it for the second one. :D**

**Third one coming up shortly. **

**P.S: I'm trying to keep Sasuke as in character as possible. Am I doing a good job? Maybe I should get a BETA for myself... :/ **


	3. The one before and after the trial

**Well, hello there! :D **

**No, I'm still alive. XD Swamped with college work, but still breathing.**

**This is actually weird. This chapter has been, like, 90 % completed on my desktop and only today did I find the time to write the remaining 2 sentences. :S**

**I really like this fanfic and I'm really trying to continue it. So bear with me, please. :D I have written down some isolated moments of this story so most of it is planned out.**

**I apologize for any mistake and I appreciate it if you could point it out.**

**Thank you.**

**Enjoy. **

* * *

On the morning that was scheduled for his trial, Sasuke woke up early and refreshed. Sleeping in a strange environment never bothered him so, at six-thirty in the morning, he could be found in Sakura's kitchen, leaned against her counter, sipping a cup of coffee, deciding that he would take a shower, meditate for a while (since he wasn't allowed to leave the house unescorted) and then wait for the ANBU that would take him to his trial that was scheduled for nine (it wasn't allowed audience, so Sakura couldn't take him).

Not five minutes later, a just-awakened, bed-haired and sluggish Sakura dragged her limp feet across the kitchen floor.

Rubbing her eyes lazily, she noticed Sasuke.

"M'ning." - she mumbled and reached up to open a cupboard above Sasuke (who moved out of the way, least she hit in over the head) and retrieved a mug.

Sasuke went to lean, now, against the dinner table. Watching her, eyes mostly closed, trying to pour coffee in her mug, he smirked.

"So. You really are a morning person."

She didn't turn around but gave him the finger above her head, anyways. And then brought her hand back and scratched her head absentmindedly.

Sasuke didn't say a word but contemplated throwing his own mug at the back of her head, for good measure.

Having managed to fill up her mug without spilling much coffee over her marble counter, Sakura went over to the table herself and sat on a chair. She placed the mug on the table top and wound her hands around it, staring at it's contents, but didn't bring it up to her lips.

Sasuke, having finished his coffee, put his mug in the sink and turned to leave.

"Are you scared?"

Sasuke turned around and looked at Sakura. She was in the same position she was five seconds ago, but when he didn't answer in the next ten seconds, she lifted her head to look at him.

Sasuke sighed, put his hands in his pockets and made to leave again.

"No. So there's no reason for you to be." - and then he left.

* * *

Sasuke found out that Sakura's back yard was the perfect place for meditating: the ground was covered in a blanket of freshly cut soft-green grass; against the wooden fence, that limited the back of the garden, was a flower bed covered with full grown daisies, pansies and lilies of a million colors. Without surprise, there was also an old cherry tree, now leafless but covered in thousands of small light-pink flowers. That was the place that Sasuke chose to sit under to preform his meditation.

Sitting down, indian style, he let his arms loose and placed each hand on each of his knees.

Small, delicate flowers fell all around him, in an intricate dance with the morning wind.

Closing his eyes, he drew in a long breath and slowly let it out; the moist smell of the grass and the light smell of the cherry blossoms reaching his nose.

* * *

The trial went by smoothly, just as he expected. His sentence was simple: a five month probation. He couldn't leave the village, couldn't do any missions and was to be followed around by, at least, two ANBU everywhere he went. The constant presence of the two distinguishable chakra signatures irked him to no end.

"_And you can consider yourself lucky, Uchiha. Your sentence is incredibly light. Well, because of my tremendous influence on the council, of course, _(he had snorted here)_ but also because you managed to gank the snake bastard. Good for you."_

Sasuke grimaced, remembering the Hokage's choice of words.

The quiet but long walk he had to make from the Hokage's office to Sakura's house was interrupted by the person herself.

"Hey, Sasuke." - Sakura reached his side and looked up at him, trying to look both apprehensive and curious. - "So? How was it?".

She has always been a terrible liar.

"You already know." - he stated simply and lifted an eyebrow before turning around and resuming his walk.

Sakura sighed and dropped her pretense.

"Well, yeah. But I don't want people to think that I receive any sort of special treatment from the Hokage, you know?" - she said, falling in step with him."I shouldn't find out about these things before they come public."

Sasuke briefly snorted, the sound still alien to his ears.

"Right." - everyone knew she was Tsunade's favorite.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Sakura faintly blushing and she nudged his side playfully.

Obviously, Sasuke didn't get on with her childish play but he felt the corners of his mouth perk up.

Noticing her arms for the first time, he saw that she was carrying a large, brown carton box. So, with nothing better to do and still a few minutes away from her house, Sasuke gave in to his curiosity.

"What's in the box?"

Sakura looked away from the road in front of her, looked at him and then at the box in her hands.

With the biggest smile she's ever shown around him, she answered,

"Books. Konoha's legal system has a lot of complications and particularities."

Sasuke frowned, confused. She looked at him, surprised, and stopped on her tracks.

"Didn't I tell you?" - from the look on his face, it seemed, she deduced his answer."I spoke with Tsunade-shishou about your compound. It seems like it will be a lot harder to get it back."

Sasuke frowned, this time from anger and turned on her.

"That is my house. I lived there my whole life. That's the only thing my fami-"

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he spoke more quietly.

"That house, _those_ houses are all I've got from my family. I don't care what the Hokage or the council says."

Sakura looked at him sadly.

"For all intents and purposes, I'm the only Uchiha alive so I have every right to live there."

Sakura sighed, then smiled.

"I know. And I agree with you completely. That is why I requested this." - she mentioned the box in her hands and then looked at him pleadingly."There's got to be a legal way of doing this, Sasuke. You just got back and Tsunade made sure your sentence was light enough so you could enter the Chuunin exams."

Sasuke looked at his feet, unable to meet her gaze.

He felt a small hand on his chest and flinched, his head snapping up on instinct.

Sakura was looking at him with concern but also warmth.

"Tsunade wants you here, Konoha wants you here. We _need_ you here." She spoke softly, her eyes never leaving his. He, instead, was having difficulty keeping his gaze. Her proximity was starting to make him uncomfortable.

The hand on his chest moved up to his cheek. All the nerves in his body were screaming at him to back away but the look in her eyes kept him in place.

"Don't throw that all away now, Sasuke."

She grazed her thumb over his cheek and then pulled her hand away, letting it drop on her side.

"Let's go home."

She picked up her box which, somewhere along the way she must have put down, and then walked past him.

Sasuke put his hands back in his pockets.

"Thanks." - he mumbled, his back still turned.

He heard her stop.

"You're welcome." - she said, softly. "Come on, now. I'm starving."

Sasuke smirked and followed her.

* * *

"So, what exactly are we looking for?"

They were seating at Sakura's dinning table, which was overflowing with books and papers. After a light dinner (which Sasuke took the courtesy of making seeing as cooking wasn't Sakura's forte), they agreed to start digging through the dozens of documents Sakura had brought. The were at it for hours.

Never looking up from the open scroll she was reading, Sakura answered.

"Well, I'm not expecting to find a clause saying _what to do to seize back a house which belonged to a former village traitor who decided to come back and remembered he wants to live there again."_

Sasuke glared at her.

She sighed, but it turned into a yawn. Shaking her head clear, she continued.

"Oh, I don't know. But there's got to be something here." - she was saying as she rummaged through the papers littering the table top. "Surely you're not the first person leaving the village and coming back, right?"

Sasuke shrugged and got up.

Sakura lifted her eyes to look at him.

"Where are you going?"

Sasuke continued walking.

"To sleep." - he said right before he turned a corner and disappeared from her sight, heading towards the guest room he was currently occupying.

A sudden thought occurred to him and he turned back on his tracks just enough to peek his head through the corner.

"You should too."

Sakura looked surprised. He couldn't blame her; he himself was feeling rather confused as to why he said that. Well, _why_ was obvious: she looked awfully tired.

"You're almost dead on your feet. You'll look terrible in the morning if you don't get enough sleep."

Of course, leave it to him to get past uncomfortable situations with a rude remark and an insult.

She managed to put up quite a convincing glare in the sleep deprived state she was in.

"Yeah, thanks." - she said, sarcasm dripping from both syllables. "I'll go in a minute." - she resumed her reading on a thick volume she has been holding for half an hour.

Sasuke shrugged and left to take a bath before bed.

* * *

It was early morning, it seemed, but it felt like not 10 minutes had passed since he fell asleep as he opened his eyes and found Sakura's face inches away from his.

He groaned and rolled over, trying to go back to sleep. He was hoping that if he ignored her long enough, she would get the message.

"Sasuke."

Apparently not.

Sasuke's reply came out muffled by his pillow.

"Go away."

He heard her grumbling quietly to herself and then she started tugging on his sheets, shaking him.

"Come on, I found it!" - she sounded very excited but tired at the same time.

He sighed and took a quick look at the clock on his night stand: it was 3:49am. Turning on his bed-side lamp, he looked at her and took in her disheveled hair and the bags under her eyes.

He frowned.

"Did you get any sleep at all?"

Sakura quickly brushed his comment aside with a wave of her hand.

"That doesn't matter, now! I found it!"

Sasuke sat up slowly and, tiredly, rubbed his eyes.

"What did you find?" - he said, mid-yawn.

There was a ruffling sound of papers as she placed them on his bed. She pointed to one clause that was written on the bottom of a page, in really small letters, which she had highlighted with florescent pink.

The page in question was a decree about convicted criminals' belongings.

Sasuke squinted in the weak light that the lamp provided and tried to make out the little letters.

"_In the exceptional case that the convict is pardoned for his/her crimes, and with support of at least five witnesses, he/she may retake possession of their property if, during the two years following, their loyalty is proven to the village and its inhabitants. This test will be applied by the Hokage in possession and his/her council."_

When Sasuke finished reading the small paragraph he looked up and met Sakura's ecstatic face.

"So? Don't you see? It's so simple!"

Sasuke re-read the paragraph, not because he didn't understand it, mind you, no. He actually memorized it the first time. The problem was what it would take to get his house back: prove his loyalty to the village? And where the hell would he get 5 people crazy enough to want him there? This was definitely not in is plans.

Sakura was still smiling brightly at him when he met her eyes again. Well, he needed to stay in the village, so if this was the only way so be it.

And besides, he was one hell of an actor.

* * *

**So there you have it. :D**

**What are, exactly, Sasuke's plans? Any ideas?**

**I have absolutely no idea when the next chapter will be out, so make sure to alert this story to know. :D**

**Reviews are food for the mind! **

**Cheers. xxx**


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